Seeking Stress Relief: 20 Natural Stress Relievers to Boost Your Health

Stress: We all deal with it, yet we know how much better off we’d be — both physically and mentally — if we could only get it under control and find stress relievers that really work.

While stress can be a positive, motivating factor at times (such as when you’re under pressure to perform well at work or to ace an important exam), more and more research shows that chronic stress impacts the body in ways similar to a poor diet, lack of sleep or sedentary lifestyle.

Would you believe that 75 percent to 90 percent of all doctors office visits are related to conditions caused by stress? It’s true.

How exactly does stress negatively affect our health in so many ways? It mostly boils down to changes in our hormones, which then cascade to an increase in inflammation and various other problems.

Uncontrolled stress experienced over a long period of time is considered “chronic stress,” dangerous and capable of increasing someone’s risk for heart disease, diabetes, weight gain or obesity, mental disorders, autoimmune diseases, digestive disorders, and even cancer.

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Let’s face it, the stress we face today isn’t going anywhere, which is exactly why it’s more important than ever to find natural ways to relieve stress that work well for us. Thankfully there are natural stress relievers that can help.

If you adhere to the following stress relief practices, you’re likely to better manage your stress on a daily basis. Best of all, there are stress relievers out there for just about everyone.

Higher stress levels today

In many parts of the world, more people today report experiencing negative experiences — which includes physical pain, worry, sadness, stress and anger — on a daily basis than at any recent point in history. What is causing everyone to feel so stressed and burnt out?

Some of the top reasons people feel stressed and mentally unwell include:

•   Worries over finances and the economy
•   Health and healthcare-related concerns
•   Disapproval of government performance and worries over politics
•   Anxiety over current events, including natural and societal events such as mass shootings, climate crisis, racial tensions and terrorism
•   Stress due to social media and technology use
•   Feelings of loneliness and depression

We know that stress can negatively affect nearly all parts of the body, including the musculoskeletal system, respiratory system, cardiovascular system, endocrine system, gastrointestinal system, nervous system, and both female and male reproductive systems.

Here are some of the ways ongoing stress can lead to discomfort and disease:

•   Causes tension headaches and migraines
•   Makes it harder to sleep and causes fatigue (even adrenal fatigue)
•   Triggers digestive issues, such as stomach pain or IBS
•   Can lead to overeating and weight gain or sporadic eating patterns and skipping meals
•   Makes it more likely that people favor sedentary activities and don’t exercise
•   Can lead to social isolation, loneliness and poor relationships
•   Can increase obesity, heart disease, Alzheimer’s disease, diabetes and asthma

What is chronic stress?

Chronic stress is considered the type of stress that interferes with your ability to function normally over an extended period, such as more than six months.

Obviously people of all ages can experience chronic stress, but it’s thought that younger and middle-aged adults between the ages of 15 and 49 are most likely to deal with debilitating chronic stress. “Generation Z” is considered to be the most stressed-out age group in many industrialized nations, due to factors like violence, political turmoil, poor finances and poor health, while “millennials” report the highest rates of anxiety, loneliness and depression.

Do people always know that they are dealing with chronic stress? Not necessarily.

It’s not always easy for people to make a connection between stress in their lives and symptoms such as pain and brain fog. People also tend to struggle with identifying exactly what’s causing them to worry or feel angry, overwhelmed or depressed.

When chronically stressed, you release more “stress hormones” such as adrenaline and cortisol, a steroid hormone in the broader class of steroids called glucocorticoids that is secreted by the adrenal glands. When levels of stress hormones remain elevated over time, they impact many bodily functions.

That’s why finding natural stress relievers is so important both mentally and physically.

Natural stress relievers

1. Exercise and yoga

One of the best stress relievers available to us is exercise, a natural remedy for anxiety because it releases powerful endorphin chemicals in the brain, which act like the body’s built-in painkillers and mood-lifters.

Research has suggested the negative effects of stress on the body seem to be exaggerated in people who are inactive, a phenomenon called “stress-induced/exercise deficient” phenotype. Because we react to stress by experiencing changes in our neuro-endocrine systems, regular exercise is protective because it regulates various metabolic and psychological processes in the body, including reinforcing our natural circadian rhythms, sleep/wake cycles, moods and blood sugar levels.

Exercise has been shown to help improve insulin sensitivity, can help someone become more aware of her hunger levels, may improve confidence/self-esteem, and can lead to better mental processing and a lower risk for depression.

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Can’t sleep? Well, exercise can help with that too, which is very important considering quality sleep is needed to regulate hormones and help the body recover.

Yoga has been shown to have similar benefits, reinforcing the “mind-body connection,” improving how people (especially women) feel about their bodies, helping with sleep and controlling anxiety.

A review of more than 35 clinical trials that tested the effects of regular yoga on stress levels and health found that, overall, yoga offered significant improvements in various physical and psychological health markers for the majority of people.

Looking for an even more impactful way to feel the benefits of exercise? Do so while listening to uplifting music.

Research findings have indicated that music listening positively impacts the psycho-biological stress system, helps activate the parasympathetic nervous system, improves recovery time, and has benefits for hormonal balance and brain functioning overall.

Another terrific way to relieve stress is through forest bathing. To forest bathe, you immerse yourself in naturally beautiful and health-boosting forest surroundings by using your various senses of sight, hearing, smell, etc.

It’s meant to be a very peaceful and positive experience that has been shown by science to provide various health benefits. A study found that the tree’s compounds can decrease stress hormone levels in both men and women.

2. Meditation/devotional prayer

Meditation and healing prayer are both proven stress relievers that help people deal with worry, anxiety and finding peace of mind. Best of all, they can both be practiced conveniently anytime of day, in your own home and with no therapist, practitioner or program needed, making them no-brainers.

Meditation and prayer have been used for literally thousands of years to improve well-being and connection to others, and today they’re actually backed up by science as well.

Natural stress relief meditation and mindfulness-based stress reduction are types of simple mental techniques that are practiced for as little as 10–15 minutes once or twice a day in order to bring about more “mindfulness” and reduce stress or anxiety.

Various other forms of meditation have been shown to lower physiological responses to stress, improve mental alertness, and help people overcome various emotional and physical problems, such as:

• anxiety
• depression
• poor mental health that affects quality of life
• attention problems
• substance use
• eating habits
• sleep
• pain
• weight gain

3. Acupuncture

Acupuncture has increasingly been used to treat many stress-related conditions, including psychiatric disorders, autoimmune or immunological-related diseases, infertility, anxiety, and depression. In fact, researchers have found that acupuncture treatments result in changes in the cardiovascular and immune systems, increasing protective T-cell proliferation and helping with cellular immuno-responses.

Studies have shown that acupuncture is one of the best stress relievers for patients recovering from heart disease because it helps regulate the nervous system, therefore having positive effects on blood pressure levels, circulation, hormones and other factors.

4. Nutrient-dense diet

A steady supply of nutrients like essential vitamins, trace minerals, healthy fats, electrolytes, amino acids and antioxidants all help your brain handle stress better, therefore benefiting your entire body. It’s also a great weight loss tip for women and men.

Some of the most nutrient-dense foods for natural stress relief include:

• Foods high in B vitamins (which the body uses to convert nutrients to energy) — raw or cultured dairy products, cage-free eggs, grass-fed beef, wild-caught fish, poultry, brewer’s yeast, and green leafy vegetables.
• Foods high in calcium and magnesium — as relaxing minerals and electrolytes, calcium and magnesium are important for relaxing muscles, relieving headaches and helping you sleep. Try unsweetened organic yogurt, wild-caught salmon, beans/legumes, leafy green veggies, cruciferous veggies like broccoli, avocados and nuts.
• High-protein foods — foods with protein provide amino acids that are needed for proper neurotransmitter functions.
• Healthy fats and omega-3 fatty acids — cold-water, wild-caught fish like salmon or sardines can reduce inflammation and help stabilize moods, plus omega-3s are great for the brain, development and heart health. Other healthy fats that support brain health include nuts/seeds, avocado, olive oil and coconut oil.

These brain foods and mood-boosting foods work as natural stress relievers.

On the other hand, foods to avoid in order to keep stress levels down (aka bad mood foods) include:

• Packaged or sugary foods — processed, refined foods or those with added sugar can give you blood sugar highs and lows throughout the day, increasing anxiety and causing cravings and fatigue.
• Too much alcohol or caffeine — both alcohol and caffeine can cause or worsen anxiety, make you dehydrated, interfere with sleep to leave you tired, and make you unable to cope with stress well.
• Refined vegetable oils — imbalances in polyunsaturated fatty acids, meaning getting much more omega-6s than omega-3s from your diet, are tied to metabolic damage, inflammation and even poor gut health, which can affect mental processes.

5. Challenging thoughts with cognitive behavioral therapy

Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) is a type of therapeutic practice that has been proven to lower anxiety, stress and multiple disorders — including addiction, eating disorders, insomnia and depression. Knowing that at least 50 percent of the time experiencing a mental disorder is due mostly to chronic, untreated stress reactions, therapists use CBT to train all types of people to better react to situations that are stressful.

CBT focuses on challenging and changing your thoughts first and foremost, since the way you perceive an event (not the actual event itself) means everything in terms of how your body reacts. Once you can identify the root thought pattern that is causing harmful behaviors, you can work on changing how you think about events and therefore react to them.

The idea behind CBT is this: If you can reframe the way you think about events in your life — for example, instead of panicking over a job change you choose to embrace it, prepare as best you can and seize the opportunity to start fresh — you can literally reduce the stress you wind up feeling from the event.

CBT is useful for training us to avoid internal causes of stress, such as “all-or-nothing” thinking, jumping to conclusions, pessimism, having unrealistic expectations for ourselves, always expecting the worst-case scenario, and feeling guilt or shame over events that are out of our control.

6. Spending more time in nature and being social

Making time for connecting with the people around you (like practicing fika), spending time outside, and doing things you love with family, friends and your spouse are all stress relievers that are good for your health in many ways.

Social connection is tied to longevity, since it helps people feel like they’re a part of something larger than themselves and helps give them perspective.

Being outdoors has some similar effects, reminding people that they’re one piece of a much larger universe, lifting their moods and making it easier to get good sleep.

For many American workers, their work stress accelerates because they don’t take their full vacations or are always on call. Instead, take your deserved vacation days to give your body and brain a break from work.

Same story with a packed workday — go outside for a walk, don’t eat lunch at your desk, try not to work past 5 p.m. if you started earlier, etc.

7. Keeping a journal

Keeping track of your emotions, both positive and negative, along with the events that can trigger them helps you identify what’s causing stress. A journal is an easy, effective way to monitor your state of mind throughout the day, focus on thoughts that cause you harm and figure out what’s really bothering you when you’re unsure.

A journal can also reduce stress by helping you stay organized, such as listing out appointments, household responsibilities, job assignments or other tasks so you’re less frantic and less likely to miss important deadlines.

8. Using adaptogen herbs and essential oils

Several adaptogenic herbs and essential oils have been shown to improve anxiety symptoms by reducing the effects that stress and cortisol have on the body. Adaptogens (including ginseng, ashwagandha, maca, rhodiola, holy basil and cocoa) are a unique class of healing plants that balance, restore and protect the body and make it easier to handle stress by regulating hormones and physiological functions.

Essential oils such as lavender, myrrh, frankincense and bergamot are also capable of reducing inflammation, improving immunity, balancing hormones, and helping with sleep and digestion.

9. Breathing exercises

Breathing exercises, such as diaphragmatic breathing, are a simple and effective way to calm your mind and reduce stress. Research has revealed that controlled breathing can help lower cortisol levels and improve relaxation.

One popular breathwork method is the 4-7-8 breathing technique, which involves inhaling for four seconds, holding the breath for seven seconds and exhaling for eight seconds.

10. Cooking therapy

Engaging in cooking as a form of therapy can help reduce stress by promoting mindfulness and creativity. Studies have found that cooking at home fosters a sense of accomplishment and can improve overall mental health by encouraging healthy eating habits and social connection.

That’s right — you can add cooking therapy to the list of natural stress relievers!

11. Singing bowl and sound bath

Sound baths and singing bowls have been used for centuries as tools for relaxation and meditation. Research has found that the vibrations and tones produced can help reduce anxiety, promote deep relaxation and improve mental clarity.

12. Laugh more

Laughter truly is the best medicine, and it’s also one of the best natural stress relievers. It triggers the release of endorphins, your body’s natural feel-good chemicals, and lowers stress hormones like cortisol.

Incorporating laughter into your daily life can significantly improve mood and resilience to stress.

13. Cut down on screen time

Reducing screen time, especially before bedtime, can significantly lower stress levels. Excessive screen use has been linked to increased stress, anxiety and disrupted sleep patterns.

Setting boundaries for technology use is key to fostering relaxation. You may want to try a digital detox or dopamine detox — both effective stress relievers — to help decrease anxiety.

14. Practice self-care

Self-care encompasses activities that nurture your physical, mental and emotional well-being, such as taking a bath, journaling or practicing gratitude. Prioritizing self-care has been linked to reduced stress levels and improved mental health.

15. Set and keep boundaries

Learning to set and maintain healthy boundaries is crucial for stress management. Boundaries help you protect your energy and time, reduce overwhelming feelings, and foster healthier relationships.

Studies have confirmed the importance of assertive communication in maintaining mental health.

16. Don’t procrastinate

Procrastination often leads to increased stress and anxiety as deadlines approach. Breaking tasks into smaller, manageable steps and practicing time management techniques can help alleviate this stress.

17. Guided imagery

Guided imagery involves visualizing peaceful and calming scenes, which can significantly reduce stress and anxiety. Studies have shown that this practice can enhance relaxation and improve coping skills.

You can also try using a vision board to help set goals and guide your thoughts.

18. Progressive muscle relaxation

This technique involves tensing and then relaxing each muscle group in your body to release physical tension. Progressive muscle relaxation has been shown to lower stress and anxiety while improving sleep quality.

19. Go for a walk

Walking, especially in nature, is a proven way to reduce stress and improve mental well-being. Studies have revealed that even short walks can lower cortisol levels, improve mood and boost creativity.

20. Hug or cuddle a loved one

Physical touch, such as hugging or cuddling, promotes the release of oxytocin, a hormone that helps reduce stress and enhance feelings of connection and safety. This simple act can significantly improve your emotional well-being.

Final thoughts

• We can’t always control sources of stress in our lives, but we change how we react to them. The good news is that the human body is actually designed to experience and handle stress, which is exactly why our bodies react to it so strongly.
• With some practice, we have the power to learn to use certain elements of stress to our advantage (for example, the fact that stress keeps us more alert and attentive), while better controlling other negative reactions (like digestion problems or giving in to cravings for unhealthy foods).
• That’s why it’s so important to find the proper stress relievers to maintain a strong quality of life. The stress relievers above can help you maintain a good mood, remain calm and better handle your day-to-day stress.